बस यही मेरी सज़ा, मेरा नसीब भी है
मेरा साया ही मेरा रकीब भी है
मुझे न समझाइये इबादत के मानी
वो ही दुआ मेरी, वो ही सलीब भी है
कुछ ऐसा रिश्ता रहा दरम्यान तेरे-मेरे
तू ही दूर सब से, तू ही करीब भी है
अजीब शख्स है, जो आईने से झांकता है
पूरा वहशी सही, थोड़ा अदीब भी है
हरेक लिहाज से तू बेहतर सही मुझसे
बिना मेरे, तू थोड़ा ग़रीब भी है
this is an interactive post, an attempt to document history from the eyes of common men and women. please do answer the question above and post it in the comments box. i’ll pick the responses from the comments and make them a part of the post.
wouldn’t it be fascinating to see our personal, daily histories mixing and mashing with this world changing historical event?
also, do remember to write your name and the corner of the world you are writing in from. hope to gather as many responses as possible. and please do share this page/link with your friends! 🙂 thanks in advance.
this is my answer:
i was getting ready for office, feeling unusually high spirited for a Monday morning. (it was already Monday morning in India). i updated my status on facebook and went to the home screen to see what other friends were saying. two updates were about Osama being killed in a military operation. from across the house, i called my dad and asked him to switch on the TV, saying “Pa, Bin Laden mara gaya!” (Pa, Bin Laden is dead!). watched TV for the next half an hour, yes got late for office and congratulated every one in the team when i reached 🙂 -adee, New Delhi, India
so what were you doing the night Osama died?
हँसते-हँसते भूल गया वो
अश्कों की तासीर मौला
मुझ में, तुझ में, सब में वो है
गाता गया फ़कीर मौला
जितना बाँटू, बढ़ता जाये
दिल तो बड़ा अमीर मौला
26 बरस की सीधी गुड़िया
आँखें बड़ी शरीर मौला
अबके बरस वो मिल जाये मुझको
कर कुछ ये तदबीर मौला
कैसी लिखी तक़दीर मौला
पानी पे खिंची लकीर मौला
हँसते-हँसते भूल गया वो
अश्कों की तासीर मौला
मुझ में, तुझ में, सब में वो है
गाता गया फ़कीर मौला
जितना बाँटू, बढ़ता जाये
दिल तो बड़ा अमीर मौला
26 बरस की सीधी गुड़िया
आँखें बड़ी शरीर मौला
अबके बरस वो मिल जाये मुझको
कर कुछ ये तदबीर मौला
today.
such a short word can have so many different connotations. (today i met dee.) such a little word and the experiences, the emotions it generates! (today i went to the book bazaar with her.) the single word that captures everything done or thought of, things or thoughts long forgotten as if they never happened. (today we bought so many books and left so many more behind.)
perhaps the very purpose of writing a diary is to record these many ‘todays’ that happen one after the other and suddenly you’ve a lifetime of them looking back at you, making you wonder where has all the time gone. (today we dared to go upstairs in a shady little restaurant that turned out to be a gloriously kitsch example of the 80s middle-class India.) perhaps the idea of writing a diary is to dare yourself, because at the ends of the day when you’ll put pen to paper, you won’t like to be reminded of how badly you spent your allotted time. (today we lost dee’s wallet due to our foolishness.) it is said that when people are dying, they remember their life in detail, what went wrong, what was right, the agony, the ecstasy, all of it rolls by as in a flashback scene from an old Bollywood movie. (today, we laughed, we shopped, we hoped, we dreamed, we loved, we hated, we smiled, we unsmiled.)
so writing a diary entry at the end of the day, something that starts with the word ‘today’ is almost like being those dying individuals, reminiscing about their lives, maybe wishing for one more chance and preparing for the long night ahead, because no matter what, tomorrow will be another ‘today’. (it was a wonderful day, with almost everything that life could throw at us was accepted and lived through, it was a day worthy to be remembered always.)
i don’t think i’ll ask for one more chance to relive this day. (may our lives be full of many such ‘todays’.)
In a world where everything has been explained and discovered, some part within us still craves the feeling of adventure that comes from stepping into the unknown. Perhaps this is the sole reason why people travel, to experience something new, to be out of the routine of their lives, and maybe in the process discovering something new about them.
Little wonder that when the bosses at Delhi McCann Healthcare asked the team “who would like to go to Goafest 2011” many hands shot-up in the air instantly! After a few meetings, huddles and approvals, finally a list of six was prepared. I call them the six-pack, aligning more to a certain refreshing drink than to a set of perfectly formed abdominal muscles.
Taking the metaphor of drink a little ahead, let me introduce the six to you. First comes the senior most member of the pack, Mr. Peace, who continues the glorious traditions of the flower children well into the new millennium, he is the age old, classic Guinness. Then we move on to the other ‘senior’ amongst us, Mr. B. Although his name also kind of links to peace, I’m choosing the alphabet B for him as he loves the words starting with it, like beach, beer, babes and yeah, you can let your imagination build on from here 😉 He is the ‘Fosters’ amongst us. And now we move on to the ladies. First up, the always chilled, sophisticated Ms. Dusk, let’s name her that demi-goddess of beers, Heineken. Next amongst the women is our earthen Ms. Brown, never to be the one caught slipping off the stairs. She is the Carlsberg of our pack. Ooooh, and the next one is well, wait, I don’t think Punjab has a beer brand associated with it, so what do I call this bubbly, vivacious Ms. Sunshine amongst us. Ummmm, let’s call her the party special Tuborg! And in the end, let your humble narrator call himself Mr. Blue, based on his always brooding countenance, a preference for the Blues and this being his favorite color! So he becomes the Kingfisher Blue of the pack.
Let me tell you something about Goafest, the Indian advertising industry’s biggest awards festival. It is the meeting ground of the best minds that our industry has to offer. This year, it was the sixth edition of Goafest, I’ve been there before in 2008. The five other members of the six-pack were attending it for the first time, so naturally the overall excitement level was high. Apart from the fun one has there, Goafest is also famous for the many sessions conducted by industry leaders. You get to meet a lot of your friends from different regions and agencies, many a new friendships are built over drinks and you emerge with a broader perspective of life and work in Indian advertising. And of course, the overall appeal of the fest increases manifolds due to its location, Goaaaaah!
Our journey started early on Friday the 8th morning and ended earlier on Sunday the 10th. All in all, we got to spend less than 48 hours in Goa, but the sheer amount of fun we’d in such little time was amazing. We learned, we interacted, we danced, we drank, we traveled, we cheered those who won, felt sad for those who didn’t (especially for our TAG teammates), we met most of our Mumbai mates and they made this whole time so much more enriching. Thanks to Ulka, Puro, Ganesh, Sanjay, Yogeeta, Prasad, Rohit, Deepa and all others!
Back to our desks and mundane lives, I’m sure all of us will cherish the moments we spent together at Goafest 2011. And because the girls are after my life to upload the pics, I won’t say much now, and let the pictures below do the talking 🙂 Do read the captions to travel the journey with us! OR you can watch it in full screen here: click click!
Here’s to Goafest 2012!!!
i’m going there with five of my team members from the McCann Healthcare Delhi office. joining us will be our Mumbai team and many from other divisions of the Delhi office. and of course the whole of industry will be there.
meeting the Mumbai guys will be cool, so will be the beaches and the beers! there are some wild elements in our troupe who’ve been planning some interesting things. i on the other hand am looking forward to rubbing shoulders with the best in the business and just going along with the flow.
whatever the spirit, we all are definitely looking forward to having some fun. and a bit of learning too 😀
will keep you updated with things as they happen. we are not going to be there for a long time, but as my dada Shantanu said, “it is not the number of days, it is the number of hours that i’m looking forward to!”
see you in Goa, soon!
p.s. if i get good network connectivity there, u might also get regular tweets from my twitter account @delhidreams and/OR my facebook page here.enjoy!
the image of Sachin rushing on to the ground (later i read that he had not watched the winning runs as he was praying inside the dressing room!), his time-stopping hug of Yuvi, the victory lap with youngsters carrying him on their shoulders, Dhoni – the humble leader making the back of the procession, these images will stay with me forever. the brightest moments of my cricket viewing career 😉
but i also felt very lonely. there i was, surrounded by hundreds of strangers, desperately needing someone to hug, someone to share my tears of joy with. missed her so much that i can’t even explain. joys or sorrows are worthwhile only when shared with someone you love.
later we did get to talk, and we couldn’t. it was overwhelming. i must have went on and on about what this cup meant for India, for the team, for Sachin… but she had already converted over to the cult of the ‘God!’
and for me, it was an affirmation, my belief in destiny doubled; that yes, there is somebody up there who writes such scripts, that yes, there is redemption, that patience pays, that i should never-ever lose faith, because hard work and sheer dedication always pays, that the universe is with Sachin and me and with all those who believe…
…it is only belief that converts mere mortals into all conquering Gods
Born in New Delhi, India in 1980 and is a retired pessimist (still) living in New Delhi. He has Haryanvi ancestors, a Punjabi girlfriend, friends all over the world, two (or more) yet to be born children, (many) memories of (many) pet dogs and no cats ever. He holds an honours degree in English Literature from the University of Delhi and creates advertisements for paying the bills. His interests are universal, and include: living, eating, sleeping and when not sleeping, daydreaming. Other abiding interests include reading, writing, street photography, newspaper editorials, watching the moon and planning trekking trips that never materialize.Born in New Delhi, India in 1980 and is a retired pessimist (still) living in New Delhi. He has Haryanvi ancestors, a Punjabi girlfriend, friends all over the world, two (or more) yet to be born children, (many) memories of (many) pet dogs and no cats ever. He holds an honours degree in English Literature from the University of Delhi and creates advertisements for paying the bills. His interests are universal, and include: living, eating, sleeping and when not sleeping, daydreaming. Other abiding interests include reading, writing, street photography, newspaper editorials, watching the moon and planning trekking trips that never materialize.